


Shaken

by sodaschemes



Category: LEGO Monkie Kid
Genre: (minor) - Freeform, Angst, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Intense, Paranoia, Self-Harm, Serious Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27258823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodaschemes/pseuds/sodaschemes
Summary: MK wakes up to an earthquake. At first he writes it off as paranoia, but as the day progresses, he can't help but feel like he's been here before.
Comments: 58
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No, MK isn't back in the Calabash. But the mind sure is a powerful thing. :)

MK woke up to the world shaking. Books were thrown from his shelves, various trinkets going everywhere.

Oh shit, was this an — _earthquake_. The word left a gross sense of deja vu. 

The earthquake stopped almost as quickly as it started.

Warily, he dressed himself, praying there wouldn’t be another one. This had been rather _tame_ for an earthquake.

He hurried downstairs, not wanting to be late for work.

When he saw that the shop, too, was a complete and total mess, he couldn’t help but be a little bit relieved. 

In the calabash, nobody but him had been affected by the “earthquakes”. This meant that it had actually been real.

Thank god.

“Kid, are you okay?” Pigsy asked.

MK snapped out of his thoughts. “What?”

“The _earthquake_ , are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said.

Pigsy seemed satisfied. “Good. Let’s get started on cleaning this mess. I won’t have customers thinking we’re slobs!”

MK laughed breathlessly. Yeah, that was definitely Pigsy. There was absolutely nothing to worry about! Everything was all good.

An hour later, the shop was totally spick and span. Luckily, the earthquake hadn’t done _too_ much damage.

From there, MK went on with his job, delivering noodles to people all across town. Rush hour had traffic, and there were no free samples.

Still, the earthquake had him on edge. But there was _nothing_ to worry about. He was _sure_ there was nothing to worry about.

The day proceeded to be almost painstakingly average. No horrible demons attacked, and he didn’t have to deal with any Karens at work. It was just… normal.

Almost suspiciously so.

At the end of his shift, Mei showed up. That was odd, wasn’t she supposed to have been busy? He could have sworn she was doing something today.

“Are you ready?” She asked, bouncing on her heels.

“Uh… ready for what?”

Mei laughed. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

“Forgot…?”

“That event the arcade is holding? You know, the one we’ve been talking about for weeks?”

MK’s blood went cold.

There was no event. He’d never made plans with Mei. He was sure of it.

He would have remembered if he had, which meant… no, no, this was the only strange thing that had happened, it didn’t _mean_ anything…

_But what if it did?_

What if he was trapped again? What if this was all fake? The earthquake, the complete and total perfect normalcy of the day… 

Okay. Alright okay, there was an easy way to figure this out. He just needed to check for his staff.

Mei watched, looking somewhat concerned, as he reached for the staff. Only… _it wasn’t there_.

“Where’s the staff?” He asked, panic beginning to set in. 

“Locking away DBK,” Mr. Tang supplied from across the room as he slurped down his noodles. “Are you feeling alright, MK? You look a little… ill.”

_He had never done that. He’d never defeated DBK, not for real. It wasn’t true. They were lying to him, none of this was real._

“I’m fine,” he squeaked, backing away very, very slowly. 

“Kid?”

He snapped around, coming face-to-face with Pigsy, who looked just as concerned as the other two.

_Oh god, he was being boxed in, they were going to hurt him, they wouldn’t want to let him leave._

He forced his breathing to slow, and he gave the most natural smile he could muster. If he could convince them that he wasn’t onto them, he could buy himself some time.

“Everything’s good!” He said. “Sorry, I dunno what got into me! Anyways, I should probably make this last noodle delivery! I’ll be back soon for our thing, Mei!”

“If you’re sure…” Mei finally said, looking unconvinced.

“Please, I’ll be as quick as a bunny! You know how great I am at noodle deliveries, after all,” he said, as if he thought the concern was him not making it back in time. If he just kept playing dumb, everything would be fine. He just needed to get away.

He grabbed the bag of food, getting into his cart as calmly as possible. 

_Almost there almost there almost there_.

Finally, he deemed himself a good distance from them. He didn’t know to what extent the demons had control over this… realm? Pocket dimension? _Illusion_? But he had to figure this out quick, before they realized he knew what was up.

Still, he couldn’t stop the panic from growing. Everything was so much more _natural_ than last time. Had he not been here before, he probably would have just written it all off as a bump on the head.

But he knew better. He wasn’t stupid.

He came to a stop on the side of the road, putting his head on the steering wheel.

He needed to _go_. But he needed to stop. Why was he freaking out so much? He’d been here before, this would be a piece of cake. 

But his breathing refused to calm, and he was pretty sure he was going to vomit.

 _Deep breaths_ , he demanded of himself. _Deep. Breaths_.

“MK?”

He looked up, his knuckles going white from how hard he was gripping the wheel. 

“Monkey King,” he greeted stiffly, swallowing down his fear.

“Well that’s a little formal,” he laughed.

MK just looked at him, ignoring his comment in favor of trying to determine what to do. Fake or not, Monkey King was too strong for him to fight. Especially without his staff.

Monkey King frowned. “You seem—”

 _Agitated_ , MK thought with a growing sense of dread. He was going to say that. Jin and Yin were just taunting him, they were _playing_ with him, they were letting him _know_ —

“Worried.”

Instead of comforting him, MK only felt the sense of nausea swirling in his stomach get worse. They had gotten smarter.

That wasn't good.

“Mhmm,” he agreed, not trusting himself to speak.

“Did something happen?”

 _Besides being trapped in an evil artifact again? Besides the fact that the world around him was completely and utterly_ fake _? Besides knowing that everyone here was nothing but a lie?_

“Nope!” He forced out. “Just had a long night!”

 _He needed to get his staff he needed to get out he needed to run_.

“ _Anyway_ , I’vegottodeliverthesenoodlesbye.” He didn’t give Monkey King a chance to stop him, speeding off in his cart as fast as it would take him. By the grace of the heavens, he didn’t follow him.

Okay. Tang had said his staff was on the mountain. He found it a little odd that the demons would put it right back where it had been last time, but hopefully that would make it easier for him. If last time’s experience had taught him anything, it was that he would have to be _fast_.

He didn’t know how quickly Jin and Yin would send his “friends” after him. He glared at the street. _Friends_. They were nothing but empty shells, puppets on strings. That may have been the most cruel part of all. Trying to make him believe that the people he loved were real.

Focus MK. Just get to the mountain.

He could do this.

He continued to drive, trying hard to force all other thoughts out of his head. It was hard to not think about things when you were thinking about not thinking about them.

It was hard not to focus on the fact that he was trapped in a tiny world controlled by two people who were intent on destroying him, who were holding his life in their hands, who were manipulating and playing with it like _putty_ , who wanted him to suffer and not know it until the very last moment.

Tears pushed at his eyes. It wouldn’t be like last time. He’d figured it out way faster, and now he was going to put an end to it.

This didn’t help to calm the panic.

Jin and Yin had done a better job this time. They were smarter. This could only mean horrible things for him if he let it go on any further.

He pulled to a stop again, squeezing his eyes shut. He just needed a minute. He just needed a quick minute. Everything was gonna be fine.

He covered his eyes with his hand, as if it would block the tears. It really only served to make his hand wet.

Shakily, he ran his other hand through his hair, flinching when a sharp burst of pain came from it. 

Carefully, he touched that spot again. There was a large, really fucking painful bump. When had _that_ happened? He didn’t remember hitting his head… 

Whatever, he could worry about it later. Right now, he needed to pull himself together and get the hell to the mountain before he was caught.

He couldn’t manage to stop crying, but the tears had at least slowed enough that he felt he could drive again. His vision was only slightly blurry.

Just as he pulled up to the construction site, his phone rang.

“Um… hello?” he asked, cursing himself when he choked up. Fuck, now they would know he’d been crying.

“Kid? You okay?” Pigsy asked from the other end of the line.

“I’m—” _so scared_ “fine.” He forced down a bitter laugh. They really had gotten smarter. A worried phone call instead of all his friends randomly showing up to stop him from taking back his staff, yeah, that was clever. _But he wasn’t stupid_ . He was going to get out of here, and he was going to go _home_.

“Okay, great, care to tell me why this tracker app says you’re hanging around at that construction site instead of doing your _job_?” Pigsy asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.

“I’m not stupid!” MK yelled, unable to hold himself back. He all but flung himself into the elevator, directing it down. “You can’t keep me in here this time!”

“ _What?_ ”

“ _You can’t trick me that easily again!_ ”

“Kid, hold on, I’ll be right there—”

“ _Don’t even try it!_ ”

He hung up, glaring at his dark phone screen as the elevator continued to descend.

And then, out of nowhere, it stopped.

“Come _on_ , you stupid piece of junk!” he begged, “ _Work!_ ”

Oh god. He’d given himself away, and if he didn’t get to the ground in time, they’d catch up with him. _Fuck fuck fuck_ , he was so stupid, why had he done that?

He looked down, weighing his options. He couldn’t jump, not without his staff. He’d break something for sure.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. He kicked the wall of the elevator as if that would do something. 

He was a sitting duck. For a few, dreadful minutes, he sat there, contemplating his options. He was going to throw up.

“MK?” he heard.

 _No_.

“Are you here? Pigsy sent me since I was already nearby.”

No no no, he wasn’t letting not-Mei ruin everything.

“MK?”

He covered his mouth, hoping it would quiet down his breathing. He couldn’t make a sound.

He heard Mei fiddling with the lever of the elevator. “Move, you stupid…” she gave it a kick, and then it started to move. _Up_.

_No!_

He didn’t have a choice. He forced the gate open, tumbling out and to the ground. 

The resounding _crack_ echoed loudly.

“ _MK, oh my god!_ ”

He scrambled to his feet, whimpering through the pain, limping frantically for the staff. Almost there, almost there—

“Kid, _stop_ ! What is he _doing_?”

“He’s going crazy, he just _jumped_ from this thing!”

“Holy _shit_ , MK, _stop_!”

He tuned out their words, forcing back the tears and the pain. Almost there. Just a little closer—

Someone grabbed him.

“ _No!_ ” he screamed, wrenching himself from their grip. They only grabbed him again.

“MK, bud, take a deep breath. Can you do that?”

 _Monkey King was here why was Monkey King here he wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t all fake_. 

“ _Let me go!_ ” he screamed, twisting out of his ~~mentor’s~~ hold once more, barely making it two steps before he fell to the ground.

His not-friends were surrounding him.

He couldn’t breathe, they weren’t going to let him get to that staff, he could barely even think through the pain, he needed to move, but he _couldn’t_.

“Give him some air!” Pigsy demanded, pushing Monkey King to the side as he kneeled beside MK. “Kid, look at me.”

MK squeezed his eyes shut tight. “You c-can’t trick me, not again,” he whispered.

“What are you talking about?”

“ _Don’t play dumb! I know! I told you I know! Give it up already!_ ” he sobbed, clutching his leg.

They were trying so hard to save this, it was almost _pathetic_. They’d gotten Pigsy just right this time, too.

He loosened his grip on his leg, slowly sitting up.

“Hey, hey, be careful—”

He bolted. He shot to his feet and _ran_ for the staff, holding back every scream and every sob. He could hurt when he was free.

His fingers brushed against the staff—

He was yanked back.

Mei was there, holding her _blade_. “We can’t let you do this,” she whispered.

“ _You can’t stop me this time!_ ”

He threw a punch, actually managing to land a _hit_ on her. She looked shocked and horrified and scared all rolled into one.

“MK,” Tang said, approaching him with his hands up, as if to show that he wasn’t a threat. “You need to calm down so we can look at your leg.”

MK had to give the demons props. Tang really did look scared. 

“Stay. _Away_ from me!”

Mei put a hand on his shoulder. “We just want to help,” she insisted.

Without thinking, he kicked her with his bad leg, nearly falling to the ground _himself_ with the pain. Still, he scrambled for the staff once more.

Monkey King forced him to the ground. “ _Enough!_ ” he shouted.

MK didn’t listen to him, crying so hard from the pain that he couldn’t see straight. He kicked, and screamed, and fought, but Monkey King, real or not, was so much stronger than him. He was helpless.

“Just kill me!” he sobbed, thrashing in Monkey King’s grip. “ _Just kill me!_ ” he begged again. “ _I know that’s what you want! Just do it!_ ”

Monkey King recoiled. “Where would you even _get_ that idea? Kid, it’s _me_ . I would never want you to be hurt. But you’re hurting _yourself_ by doing this.”

MK thrashed harder, his sobs making his whole body shake and tremble. His leg twisted in the wrong way.

He screamed, the sound ripping from his throat painfully. His breathing picked up, he was hyperventilating again, _get off him get off him get off him he needed to get out please let him go he wanted to go home he wanted to be in reality again_.

“We need to get him to a hospital,” Tang said, from somewhere to his right.

“Mei, call an ambulance,” Pigsy said, looking over MK worriedly.

“ _No!_ ” he sobbed, weakly fighting back. It hurt so much. He was beginning to get tired. “Let me go, _kill me_ , please…”

“Help is on the way, bud,” Monkey King said.

In one last attempt, MK reached weakly for the staff, even as darkness began to overtake his vision.

He had been so _close_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MK wakes up in the hospital. If there's one thing he knows, it's that he's got to get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make it a little bit fluffier for y'all but I don't think I succeeded

“ —just started freaking out—”

“—swear, if this is more monkey madness you’re putting him through—”

“—not.”

Words and voices faded in and out. What was going on? His head felt like it was going to explode. Everything was fuzzy, and he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet.

Come to think of it, he probably  _ shouldn’t  _ open his eyes. He didn’t want them to know he was awake.

MK fought to keep his breathing even, just barely suppressing a groan.

He hadn’t escaped.

He was in the “hospital”, no doubt, completely surrounded by those fake shells of his friends. He had to get out of here.

“—think he’s waking up!”

“—id! Kid, can you hear me?”

_ Shit. _ They knew he was awake. There was no getting out of this. 

He fluttered his eyes open, sitting up with great difficulty.

“MK? How are you feeling?” Fake Tang asked. He looked so real, too.

MK scanned the room as subtly as he could. The door wasn’t blocked. He had to make a run for it. It was a long shot, but if he could just get to his staff, then he could get out of here. But it was so far away.

Pretend Monkey King took a step closer, reaching out a hand to put on MK’s shoulder — or to  _ kill him _ .

“Don’t touch me!” he demanded.

“Oh,  _ kid— _ ”

He scrambled off the bed and onto the opposite side, nearly collapsing entirely at the immediate searing pain that came from it. He’d forgotten about his leg.

“Shit, kid, sit back down!” Not-Pigsy said, like he was panicking and genuinely worried for MK’s safety and well-being.

As they advanced on him, MK backed away, using the wall for support. He had to get away.

He made it to the door, but immediately bumped into something — or some _ one _ . He turned around, stifling a pained gasp at the action. Pretend Sandy was there, almost totally blocking the doorway.

He looked back behind him, terror growing as he saw the concern etched on his not-friends faces. It looked so real, and that only made it worse.

_ He had to get out of here. _

He faked left. As predicted, not-Sandy followed. MK quickly changed his direction, sliding past him and making a break for it down the hall.

The violent burning crawling up his leg was, quite literally, his downfall. His leg gave out, and he was sent sprawling to the floor, and then he was being  _ surrounded _ , by nurses and his friends alike, and then… he didn’t remember much, after that.

He woke up again in the same blindingly white hospital room.  It felt like he was missing more than he knew he was.

This time, he was alone.

Hope soared in his chest. If he wasn’t being watched, he could get out! He went to sit up, but was stopped short by straps that were holding him down. 

“No,” he begged, tugging on them desperately. “No!”

He was trapped. Done for. They were going to kill him, and there would be nothing he could do about it.

Oh god, he was sure now that they’d make it extra slow and painful. Of  _ course _ they would. They had to despise him, by now.

He heard someone approaching from the other side of the door, and immediately, he went limp, pretending to be asleep again.

The door opened.

“Oh, bud…” he heard pretend-Monkey-King say. “You’re gonna be okay.” they must have known MK was awake. There was no other reason they’d be spewing this bullshit. Maybe they could watch him even without a human puppet around.

MK couldn’t take it any longer. “Just drop it,” he said, staring numbly at the ceiling. “You don’t have to act anymore. The jig has been up for a long time.” he blinked back the tears that were pushing at his eyes. “So, who am I talking to? Jin or Yin? Or both? I don’t know how this Calabash shit works.”

MK couldn’t see not-Monkey King’s reaction to that. He just kept staring at the ceiling, blinking away his tears. His head was beginning to hurt.

“ _ Those _ bastards? You think—? Oh,  _ MK _ …”

Oh, great, now they were playing from  _ this _ angle. When would they just give it  _ up _ ? He knew it was them.

“I don’t think. I know.”

“Oh, come on, bud, you don’t really think they could replicate my stunningly good looks, do you?”

In spite of himself, MK laughed. That was just like his mentor.

Monkey King smiled. “Really, bud, it’s me. Wukong.”

MK glared at the ceiling. “Nice try. The real one wasn’t… I wouldn’t have called the real one by that name.” he never had before. The demons clearly hadn’t done  _ enough _ research.

Pretend Monkey King’s confusion was so fake it hurt. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not that close, you know. Hell, I doubt he even actually  _ knows  _ my name. Just — god. Kill me. Don’t try to make me believe it’s really them. Just get it over with!”

“ _ Dammit _ , MK, we’re not going to kill you!”

“Whatever.”

For a moment, fake Monkey King looked genuinely upset. He sighed. “Get some rest, kid.”

And then he left.

MK spent the next few minutes in silence, struggling to get out of the restraints. But they were  _ tough _ . Fucking hell. 

But he didn’t give up. He couldn’t afford to. He had to get out of them, he had to get  _ home _ , to his real friends. How long had he been in here, anyway? Pigsy would probably be pissed at him for missing work.

The door opened, and this time, it was the fake version of Mei. He didn’t even get the chance to wonder what she wanted before she spoke.

“Ask me something,” she demanded. “Monkey King told us what you think is going on, so  _ ask me something _ . Something only you and I would know.”

Oh, so they could make it all worse by making him see just how much they knew about him? Hard pass.

At his lack of reply, Mei began to talk. “We’ve known each other since we were 13. Pigsy took you in a year or two after that. Your favorite season of  _ Monkey King: the animated series _ is season 8, because you think whatshisname is hot.”

Okay,  _ sue him _ , he had a thing for redheads! But that wasn’t important right now. “So what? Anyone could find out stuff like that!”

Mei huffed, continuing on. “Your favorite coping mechanism used to be writing fic about Monkey King adopting you. You wrote one of the biggest fics in the fandom ever.”

“ _ And? _ That’s not that hard to figure out!”

Mei looked like she was about to  _ scream _ . “Your parents were bad people.”

MK, who had been struggling, immediately went still.

“They were bad people, and they were even worse parents. You told me not to go after them, even after you got kicked out. Because you’re too good to have ever even considered it. What else do you  _ want _ from me, MK? When you defeated DBK—”

MK had to admit, he’d almost begun to believe her. “You almost had me there,” he admitted, “I don’t know how the hell you found out about any of that, but if you didn’t notice, the DBK thing didn’t work last time either.”

“...What?”

“Oh my god, I’m not  _ that _ dumb. I would  _ remember _ locking away DBK if it had really happened.”

“But… it did?”

“Yeah, sure. I really did lock away the entire Demon Bull family, yeah. And Tang and Pigsy have some weird gay relationship going on, and Mo can just  _ talk  _ now, and Sandy is hosting romantic river cruises, of all things. And  _ you _ ,” he said, forcing down the vomit. “are in  _ love _ with me!”

Mei made a face. “Ew! That’s disgusting. Wait, okay, I think I have one. What if I tell you what MK stands for? Then will you believe it’s me?”

MK rolled his eyes. Nobody knew what MK really stood for but the real Mei. Even demons would have a hard time figuring it out. Hopefully.

“Whatever.” 

They were probably bluffing, anyway.

His name, what MK  _ really _ stood for, was a nearly perfectly kept secret.  _ Especially _ in… recent times.

“MK stands for Monkey King, “because he’s like, my hero! And doesn’t MK have this super cool and kinda mysterious edge to it?” she replied, imitating him badly and hardly missing a beat. “And, even though you think it’s a super cool name, you’re embarrassed about it, and keep it to yourself.”

MK glared at her. “I don’t know  _ how _ you heard that—”

“What will get you to believe me?” she begged.

“Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I’m not falling for this bullshit again!”

“Ask me something! Anything!  _ Please _ .”

MK thought for a moment. There was maybe one thing he could think of that they wouldn’t know. Something real. Something they would have no reason to. 

He sighed, weighing it over in his mind. There was no downside, he supposed. “What did you say when I first told you about… me?”

Again, Mei didn’t even need a moment to think. “I told you that I was really happy that you were comfortable telling me, and that I would love to take you shopping sometime to get you some better clothes, and then I demanded to know where your father lived so that I could scoop his eyes out with a plastic spoon, because he doesn’t deserve to even be able to lay eyes on you. And then I said I would keep him alive, but only barely, because an asshole like  _ that _ deserves to suffer.”

MK’s blood went cold. It was too oddly specific, and had happened years ago. There was no way they could have known. Which could only mean…

“Mei?”

“Yes!” she cried, nodding frantically. 

He couldn’t help himself, the tears he’d been so desperate to hold back earlier finally beginning to fall. “It’s really you?” he sniffled.

Mei nodded. “It is, I swear.”

Carefully, she wrapped him in a hug. It felt so nice and comforting. For a moment, MK just let himself be swept away by it.

Until the door opened.

He pushed Mei away gently, wiping his eyes furiously. 

“You uh… feeling alright, bud?” Monkey King… the real one…? asked.

“I’m okay.”

It was real. Pigsy and Tang, they were both real. And Sandy, and Monkey King, and Mei. God, he was so stupid.

“So… you thought you were in some evil magical illusion? Why?” Sandy asked.

“Because I was there before, and—” MK cut himself off. “Wait, _ no _ , this is still wrong. I would remember defeating DBK.  _ That never happened _ .” But they knew — but he also would have  _ remembered _ — he didn’t know what to believe. Oh god. How was he supposed to know for sure? How was he supposed to be confident in his decision? What was he supposed to  _ do _ ?

The others shared a look.

“You defeated them weeks ago,” Tang said, slowly.

“In like, April,” Mei added.

“It’s  _ March _ ,” MK corrected, his breathing picking up.

“It’s definitely May,” Pigsy said.

“I don’t… but…” MK took a deep breath, trying to ground himself. He didn’t feel so good. His head hurt so bad. He wanted it to stop.

His eyes were hurting, too. Was the world always so covered in little black spots?

“MK?” someone asked, their voice a thousand miles away. “Are you alright?”

The darkness fully overtook his vision, and MK didn’t have the chance to answer.

———

“— _ kill you, monkey asshole _ —”

“—do I have to do with this?”

“—our kid a — concussion!”

“—my fault?”

MK groaned, feeling faintly like he was going to vomit. He didn’t try to sit up, this time.

“MK, how are you?”

He eyed his maybe-friends warily. “Trying to figure out if I’m being tricked.”

“Yeah, about that. You’ve got a concussion, kiddo.”

Well, that was a lousy excuse. “I didn’t even hit my head,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Try again.”

“What about that earthquake earlier?” Sandy offered.

“That lasted for like, ten seconds.” Not even. It had been over before it had even actually  _ begun _ . They needed to try harder than this to fool him. He’d almost fallen for their lies the last time he’d been awake. He couldn’t risk it happening again.

“It  _ definitely  _ lasted for longer than that,” Pigsy said.

“No?”

“Yeah?”

“I bet that’s what happened, then. You hit yourself on the head during the earthquake, forget some important shit — I mean,  _ stuff  _ — gave yourself a concussion, and then you went on a quest that I like to call  _ how badly can I scare my parentals? _ ” Pigsy said, all but yelling by the time he was done with his explanation.

Out of all of that, MK couldn’t help but hone in on one part of it. “...parentals?”

Mei sighed. “You’ve forgotten a lot.”

MK looked at her for a long moment. He still just wasn’t totally convinced. But if there was one thing he knew Yin and Jin would jump at, it was this. One last try. “You know what? I changed my mind. I  _ am _ in love with you.”

“I — what the fuck, MK?” Mei asked, looking sick at the thought.

“Oh, thank god,” he said, sighing in relief. “Okay, I believe you now.”

Thinking about it, he  _ supposed  _ it all made sense. It didn’t make it much less disturbing, though. In fact, the growing sense of horror he was getting was almost  _ worse _ than thinking he was inside the Calabash.

But god, it had all been so obvious. Besides the initial earthquake, there had been nothing else like it the entire day. No glitches, no inconsistencies, no random people surrounding him and insisting that this was completely and totally perfect. Yin and Jin would have probably jumped at the chance to gloat once he’d initially figured it out, too.

In short, MK was just… really fucking stupid. 

Shit, it was really hitting him now. He must have seemed absolutely fucking  _ crazy _ all day. Especially considering he’d never told anybody about his  _ first  _ experience in the Calabash.

His friends really had been concerned about him. And with good reason. To them, he’d just lost his mind out of nowhere.

He’d  _ attacked _ them. He’d actually landed a hit on Mei. He’d been so sure that they weren’t really  _ them _ . Oh god.

He couldn’t breathe.

He was so  _ stupid _ . He’d freaked out over nothing, and had very obviously put his friends through enormous stress. All because of a little paranoia that had snowballed into — well. This.

He’d gotten a fucking  _ concussion _ , broken something in his leg, he’d attacked Mei, he’d fought with everything in him against the people who were only trying to  _ protect _ him. And all he had in response was to try to hurt them.

He was an idiot.

“C’mere, bud,” Monkey King said, crouching down beside the bed and wrapping MK in this sort of embrace that was all warm and soft and fuzzy. It was so comforting and nice, and probably more than he deserved. “I’ve got you.”

From the other side of the bed, Mei leaned over, hugging MK from behind.

The others, to the best of their ability with the limited space the hospital bed provided, joined in, however uncomfortably.

It was like being completely cocooned in warmth and love. 

They… still wanted him around.

He’d completely flipped shit for no reason, had attacked them and screamed at them and done everything in his power to get  _ away _ , but they  _ still wanted him around _ . He’d been so sure they would be disappointed in him, would be angry that he’d fought them so viciously, or even hate him.

But if this was anything to go by, they didn’t.

In fact, he’d never felt so safe.

“You’re gonna be okay,” Tang assured from somewhere to his left.

For the first time in the last day (two days? more?), he actually believed it. His friends were real, they weren’t out to end him, and the danger, for the most part, was gone.

The Demon Bull family was gone, locked away under a mountain. Jin and Yin had nothing to do with it, this time.

Also, Pigsy had  _ willingly  _ referred to himself as MK’s  _ parent figure _ , and wow was that strange.

Strange, but not unwelcome. 

And, if the day’s interactions were anything to go by, it seemed like Monkey King didn’t just  _ tolerate _ him, but actually… actually  _ cared _ about him?

He wondered if he’d felt that way at the point in time where MK’s memory stopped.

It was startling to know that everyone else in the room was  _ much _ better informed about… well, everything, than him. They knew about thoughts and feelings he’d had that he didn’t even recall experiencing. They knew about his greatest battle, about how his relationship with all of them had developed in that time, all of it.

And he didn’t.

There was an uncomfortable gaping hole in his mind that he hadn’t even known was there. He felt sort of…  _ naked _ without it. Like he’d run to work without his pants on and for some reason or another, couldn’t get back up to grab a pair.

His stupid brain was locking the door so that he couldn’t retrieve his pants.

But it would be okay. Something deep within him told him it would be. Or maybe it was the pile of people crowding around him in a group-hug, who knew. Probably a little bit of both.

But really, he was somehow certain that it would work out. He would regain his memory, and in the meantime, the others could fill him in on everything that he’d missed.

It was all going to be fine. It would take some adjusting, and it would be hard, but  _ they still wanted him around _ . That was, in of itself, a miracle.

“Wait, does this mean he doesn’t remember that Tang and Pigsy are together?”

“ **_What?_ ** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will likely be more, as Princess and I have been brainstorming ideas, but for now, this is all I have the energy for. But hey, someone's gotta acknowledge MK's begs for them to kill him eventually ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Angst hours go brrr  
> Thank you to the _lovely_ LovelyStressedPrincess for supplying me with ideas and also helping write a paragraph or two.


End file.
